West and fiancé Kim Kardashian made a surprise visit to the Harvard Graduate School of Design studios on Sunday, where the rapper jumped on a desk in the studios and addressed students about his passion for architecture and his design company DONDA.
“I really do believe that the world can be saved through design, and everything needs to actually be architected,” said West. “And this is the reason why even some of the first DONDA employees were architects that started designing T-shirts instead of buildings. But just to see the work be actualised.”
Kanye West at Harvard Graduate School of Design, photo by Kim Kardashian. Main image by Justin Gallagher
“I believe that utopia is actually possible,” he continued, blaming leaders and politicians for the fact that it hasn’t been achieved yet. He offered words of encouragement to students and praised their “willingness to learn and hone [their] craft”. He also presented them with 300 tickets to the Boston leg of his Yeezus world tour.
Kanye West: …So after walking through here I decided that I wanted to make sure for anyone that didn’t have tickets tonight that you all could have tickets to the show. So anybody who wants to come tonight, you can have tickets for the entire office!
But I just wanted to tell you guys, I really do believe that the world can be saved through design, and everything needs to actually be “architected”. And this is the reason why even some of the first DONDA employees were architects that started designing t-shirts instead of buildings. But just to see the work be actualised.
If I sit down and talk to Oprah for two hours, the conversation is about realisation, self realisation and actually seeing your creativity happen in front of you. So the reason why I turn up so much in interviews is because I’ve tasted what it means to create and be able to impact, and affect in a positive way.
And I know that there’s more creativity to happen. And I know that there’s traditionalists that hold back the good thoughts and there’s people in offices that stop the creative people, and [who] are intimidated by actual good ideas.
I believe that utopia is actually possible, but we’re led by the least noble, the least dignified, the least tasteful, the dumbest and the most political. So in no way am I a politician, I’m usually at my best politically incorrect and very direct. I really appreciate you guys’ willingness to learn and hone your craft, and not be lazy about creation.
I’m very inspired to be in this space. Tonight, this show, if you come see it – um, I’m a bit self conscious because I’m showing it to architects. So the stage does have flaws in it. It’s an expression of emotion so give me a pass on that. And that’s basically all I have to say so thank you very much.
Australian architecture studio Room 11 has created a three-kilometre riverside pathway in Tasmania where brightly coloured boardwalks are punctuated with public pavilions (+ slideshow).
Named GASP!, an acronym of Glenorchy Art and Sculpture Park, the project was conceived as a community park that combines an arts programme with a play space for young children.
Room 11 was given a stretch of land along the banks of the River Derwent and developed a phased proposal to create the park.
For the first stage the architects established a gently arching walkway made up of three boardwalks, which bridge between headland along the southern edge of the river.
Wooden slats form the surfaces of the walkways, while more timber balustrades have been painted in vivid colours to create striped patterns.
Two timber pavilions are positioned at the start and midpoint of the route, offering sheltered seating areas that can be used for various activities.
The second stage, completed this year, comprises a third pavilion at Wilkinsons Point. Constructed from concrete and red glass, this larger structure forms an end point to the trail and includes public toilets.
The third and final stage will involve construction of a cafe and studio building, but is currently only in the concept stages.
“We moved on from nostalgic visions of place making and embraced interstitial spaces with relish,” said architect Thomas Bailey.
GASP! is the first public architecture project completed by Room 11, which has offices in Melbourne and Tasmania.
The Glenorchy Arts and Sculpture Park, GASP!, is Room 11’s first foray into public architecture. Along the River Derwent in Glenorchy, Tasmania, Room 11 has built a colourfully calibrated public walkway which deftly links previously marginalised, but surprisingly beautiful sections of foreshore.
Abundant birdlife and the silky surface of the river are able to be closely inspected as one walks the gentle arc which links an existing school, playground, major entrainment centre and rowing club.
Punctuating the arc are two carefully crafted pavilions which offer shelter, seating and a location to pause and consider the water plane and sky.
GASP stage two is the penultimate gesture of the Glenorchy Art and Sculpture Park (GASP!). It is composed of architecture that responds to the scale of the surrounding landform.
Blunt forms frame and command the superlative Tasmanian landscape. Colour and architecture have been used as a vehicle for re-evaluation and re-appreciation of place. The re-forming of the shoreline embraces the expanse of Elwick Bay, the bay becomes integral to the experience, a unity has been created.
GASP! has been conceived as a ribbon along which contemporary art events and installations can occur, the new architecture is an important feature of this.
Turner Prize winning Artist Susan Phillipz was commissioned by GASP!, to undertake the inaugural art project, The Waters Twine an 8 channel sound project embedded into the boardwalk in March 2013. Further events and installations are now underway.
The staged project was the result of a limited design competition in 2010.
Length: 3km Materials: Timber, stainless steel, concrete, glass & paint Client: Glenorchy City Council Funding: Australian Government, Tasmanian State Government, Glenorchy City Council
The colour of light emitted by this lamp can be controlled using syringes filled with red, green and blue ink (+ movie).
Russian designer Taras Sgibnev developed the interactive product as a physical expression of the way red, green and blue light are used in digital interfaces to create a full spectrum of different hues.
“The project represents the process of analogue to digital conversion of colours,” said Sgibnev. “As a result any colour can be generated through the RGB-based mixing system.”
Syringes suspended below the lamp are connected to another set inside the body using clear tubes so the ink can be seen moving towards or away from the lamp.
The handles of the syringes inside the lamp are attached to sliding switches connected to an Arduino microprocessor that controls the colour output of rings of RGB LEDs.
“The syringes allow people to gradually change the colour of the lamp light in an unconventional way by providing a simple and intuitive interface,” explained Sgibnev.
The LED bulbs are fixed to a reflective cylinder that ensures an even light penetrates the translucent plastic cover, which sits between a wooden base and lid.
The lamp can be suspended with the syringes dangling from the bottom or turned upside down to sit on a table.
A single piece of felt wraps around the back and armrests of this solid wooden rocking chair by Rome designer Giancarlo Cutello (+ slideshow).
Cutello designed the Ivetta chair for Italian design brand Formabilio and it is made from locally sourced solid beech.
“The one-piece seat is attached to the leg structure using two wooden screw pegs, eliminating the need for the use of adhesive and allowing periodical adjustment of the seat,” Cutello told Dezeen.
The Ivetta chair is available with or without the rockers and comes in blue or beige.
The seat is upholstered in the same fabric as the cover.
The chair is delivered flat-packed for self-assembly.
This boxy wooden house by Canadian studio MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects extends over the edge of a rocky outcrop on the Atlantic coastline of Nova Scotia (+ slideshow).
Only a small section of the house makes contact with the ground, as most of its body projects over the edge of the cliff towards the waterfront, supported underneath by a criss-crossing arrangement of steel I-beams.
MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects designed Cliff House as a weekend getaway. It is intended to “heighten the experience of dwelling in landscape” by introducing a feeling of vertigo to its residents.
“On approaching the cabin from the land, one is presented with a calm wood box with its understated landscaping, firmly planted on the ground, in contrast with the subsequent dramatic interior experience of flying off cliff,” said the architects.
Built to a tight budget, the building comprises a simple robust structure made up of steel trusses and timber portal frames, which are left exposed throughout the interior to avoid a buildup of condensation.
The architects explained: “In Atlantic Canada we have a cool, labile climate, characterised by constant wet/dry, freeze/thaw cycles, resulting in a very high weathering rate for buildings. Over the centuries we have developed an elegant, economical light-weight wood building tradition in response to our challenging climate.”
The main space of the house is a double-height living and dining room with windows on three sides and a wood-burning stove. A bathroom sits behind, with a mezzanine bedroom located above it.
The entrance is at the end of the building, alongside a south-facing deck looking out over the cliff edge.
Read on for a project description from MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple:
Cliff House
Landscape
This modest project is first in the series of projects to be built on a large (455 acre) property on Nova Scotia Atlantic Coast. It acts as a didactic instrument intended to heighten the experience of ‘dwelling’ in landscape. A pure, austere wood box is precariously perched off the bedrock cliff, ‘teaching’ about the nature of its landscape through creating a sense of vertigo while floating above the sea. This strategy features the building’s fifth elevation – its ‘belly’.
On approaching the cabin from the land, one is presented with a calm wood box with its understated landscaping, firmly planted on the ground, in contrast with the subsequent dramatic interior experience of flying off cliff.
Program
This efficient, 960 sq. ft. cabin functions as a rustic retreat. It is intended as an affordable, high amenity prototype-on-a-pedestal. Its main level contains a great room with a north cabinet wall and a compact service core behind. The open loft is a sleeping perch. A large, south-facing deck on the cliff edge allows the great room to flow outward. The cabin’s fenestration optimises passive solar gains and views, both out to sea and along the coastline.
Building
The project’s rich spatial experience and dramatic landscape strategy is contrasted by its material frugality. This is a modest project with an extremely low budget. A galvanised superstructure anchors it to the cliff. A light steel endoskeleton forms the primary structure expressed on the interior. The envelope is a simple, conventional, taut-skinned platform framed box. The ‘outsulation’ strategy allows the conventional wood framing system to be expressed on the interior, avoiding the need for interior finishes, and the problems typically associated with condensation in insulated wall cavities. The cedar shiplap siding on a ventilated rain screen creates an abstract modern effect.
In Atlantic Canada we have a cool, labile climate, characterised by constant wet/dry, freeze/thaw cycles, resulting in a very high weathering rate for buildings. Over the centuries we have developed an elegant, economical light-weight wood building tradition in response to our challenging climate.
Ground floor plan
The light timber frame has also become the dominant domestic construction system in North America. Despite its widespread use, its inherent high level of environmental sustainability, its affordability, and its subtle refined aesthetic, architects have been reluctant to embrace it. The research of our practice, however, builds upon and extends this often understated, everyday language of construction, often through modest projects like Cliff House.
Opinion: as a sixth cyclist dies in London in two weeks, Sam Jacob argues that roads should be designed “in a way that incorporates intelligence as well as brute engineering” and asks:” “Who is the city for?”
Roads are super complex landscapes. All those speed bumps, arrows, double yellows, zig zags, kerbs, red men, green men, zebra, pelican, puffin and pegasus crossings are both the surface over which we travel and codes that modify and instruct how we travel. They are simultaneously map and territory, abstract markings on the surface of the city that become the city.
They may often be imperfect and in a constant state of revision but roads are the fundamental product of civilisation. Roads even, it might be argued, civilise us, as infrastructure that connects both places and us one to another into a collective society. Roads are where all our multi-faceted desires and demands (literally) intersect, where they are negotiated in real time, turn by turn. Of course, sometimes these negotiations tragically fail.
After six cyclist deaths in London over the last 13 days, there is understandably a sense of panic on the streets – certainly amongst the cycling community. A friend late back to the office after cycling back from a meeting found her phone flashing with a series of panicked messages checking that she hadn’t become another cyclist casualty. Over the top, for sure, but also indicative of the heightened tensions surrounding the capital’s carriageways – a tension revealed in the aggression that often characterises our behaviour on the road too.
After this spate of accidents there are, understandably, calls to do something. I don’t doubt either that there is a real desire on behalf of the authorities to do something too, but what that thing might be is much harder to identify.
The problem is first practical. How can the variety of road users – pedestrians, bikes, cars, trucks – co-exist in a safe and civilised way? But it’s also a philosophical and political issue: who the is city for?
Though we might think of them as natural, streets and roads are as much concepts as things. In Britain, pre-Roman roads formed as tracks across a landscape between settlements. More desire lines than infrastructure, we could think of these as routes worn into the surface of the earth by habit, formed by the subjective behaviour of travellers. Roads here are produced by the act of travelling itself. As such they are less defined, their edges blurred. Roman roads on the other hand brought a very different conception – an abstract, as-the-crow-flies, objective inscription of intent. The Roman road organised and controlled how we crossed the landscape.
After the fall of the empire, Roman roads fell back into disrepair, their engineered surfaces collapsing back into the soil. By 1555 the country’s roads were so poor that an act of parliament was passed requiring parishes to maintain their roads. Men of the parish were required to work for six days each year to maintain and repair the roads, but unpaid and under-resourced, little improved. As the industrial revolution gathered pace, parliament passed what was known as the Turnpike Act, which allowed the creation of private toll roads. Given the potential for profit, investment in the provision and maintenance of roads accelerated the quality and network of roads.
Roads are now (on the whole) public in the sense that they are owned by public bodies, but the ownership, management and maintenance of roads is shared between local authorities, Transport for London, and the Highways Agency. Perhaps this fragmented ownership is reflected in the confusions and conflicts on the roads.
The point of this historical diversion is to underline the point that roads are not static entities – they evolve in relation to the society that creates them – and that roads then alter the society they ostensibly serve. Turnpikes, for example, benefited those who invested (often members of parliament themselves), were often unpopular (the defensive pikes added to as protection and penalty of execution for anyone destroying a toll booth). The increased costs associated with transporting livestock into the city pushed up the price of meat and inevitably affected the urban poor most directly.
Back to the present moment; back to the issue of cycling in London. The problem of traffic and highways is usually thought of as an engineering project rather than a function of holistic urban design. Which is, I’d argue, itself part of the problem.
The engineering-first approach to cycle infrastructure produces a range of solutions:
First there’s the half-hearted standard bike paths. These might demarcate a route that seems sensible for a cyclist to follow, but be forewarned: you’re as likely to find one leading you into a dead-end, straight into a lamppost, or into a pile of bin bags dumped in its track. More often than not, they seem like elaborate devices dreamt up by Wile E. Coyote. They would be funny if they weren’t so laughable.
Next up there’s the Barclays Cycle Superhighway. These are semi-infrastructural licks of paint whose gestural wide strips of blue attempt to form zones within the road surface dedicated to cyclists.
They represent a particularly abstract form of planning as though the fluorescent highlighter, beloved of planning officers as they mark out zones and routes on the black and white expanses of OS plans, had reached down out of the sky and simply started sketching its intention directly onto the surface of the city. This is infrastructure as intention rather than reality. Cycle Superhighways might assume the appearance of infrastructural authority but the reality is that they are often little more than a trompe-l’œil. They have an indistinct status: a name that suggests real hard wired traffic infrastructure but a reality that is little more than wayfinding. In spite of their good intentions, you can’t paint the city you want into existence.
At the most extreme end, Transport For London is testing out Dutch-style roundabouts. Frankly though, in most of London there’s no way that the crooked, winding streets could be tamed into anything bearing more logic. London, born out of a singular lack of planning, seems to have a resistance to any logical planning set within its grain. Which is, of course, part of its charm: a city that’s evolved out of the lives lived within it rather than been envisioned by the mind of a Haussmann. That’s not to say that hard-wired segregated solutions aren’t either possible or desirable, but that the possibilities of their implementation are limited.
The problem of our roads seems a problem that we can’t build our way out of. That is to say, it’s not a problem of things but of space. Or rather, of things in space in motion.
Nowhere is this more visible than watching a giant hinged articulated lorry swinging itself expansively out at a junction, only to switch back round as though it were a particularly languorous, overweight uncle attempting a drunken hokey cokey. Even a large van has trouble making it around the corner without riding up over a curb.
The view from my saddle is this: it’s the incompatible co-existence of the biggest and the smallest, the heaviest and the lightest, the most armour-plated and the softest flesh between lorry and cyclist that’s the issue. There’s nothing you can engineer to mitigate this situation.
The cyclist/lorry conflict is the most extreme of examples. In extremis, it exemplifies a crisis in the nature of our city’s streets. Currently we imagine roads as a universal resource, a system that makes little differentiation between its users, or the nature of their use. Those interests, I’d argue, are not all public. Commercial deliveries might put food on the shelves of our supermarkets, materials on construction sites that we may one day work or live in, or deliver tourists to historic landmarks, but the form of these deliveries are mainly unrestricted and in volumes that suit logistics managers.
Surely in an age of smart city rhetoric, big data, and the impending possibilities that GPS and digital mapping bring to transportation (as Dan Hill discussed in his last Dezeen column) it’s time to refigure the design problem of the London street. That is to say, to conceive of transport design in a way that incorporates intelligence as well as brute engineering. The kinds of data available on even consumer-end apps like City Mapper show how joining up available datasets provides new ways of configuring movement through the city.
What if, for example, deliveries were timed not to coincide with rush hours. What if large loads were the exception and goods were distributed from out-of-town depots in smaller electric vehicles. Indeed, wouldn’t Heathrow, vacated after the construction of the Boris Island Airport, provide a suitable interchange of this sort?
We focus tremendous amounts of time, money and expertise on the design of so many other forms of transport, but roads seem to be far less of a design question. Perhaps they seem too ordinary, lacking the glamour associated with cars or airports. Yet we should recognise the necessity of roads as a design project – and the huge significance that roads represent.
Just as ancient Rome could conceive of the kinds of networks that supported its imperial ambitions, we need to find ways to imagine the kind of streets that our public, accessible city of the twenty-first century demands.
The design of London’s roads is not just about the tragic deaths of cyclists. It’s about how we make sure our city becomes public and how roads continue to force us to negotiate a contemporary urban civility.
Dezeen has teamed up with online design store Clippings.com to curate a digital pop-up shop full of gift ideas for Christmas.
Shop Dezeen at Clippings.com presents a carefully chosen range of furniture, lighting, homewares and gifts by leading brands and young designers, just in time for the festive season. The digital pop-up store is now open until 31 December 2013.
Customers around the world can buy from the Christmas shop and Clippings.com will coordinate the logistics, getting the product from the brand or designer in the most efficient and affordable way.
Tom Mallory, Co-founder of Clippings.com, comments: “We’ve been a huge fan of Dezeen ever since it first launched. The site continues to offer new and exciting ideas, keeping us constantly inspired by all the creative projects from around the world.
Plopp stool by Oskar Zieta for Hay
“We, at Clippings.com, share the same passion and appreciation for beautiful objects and architecture, and we are absolutely delighted to work on this curated shop with Dezeen. We hope that the Christmas Shop will provide an additional boost to those amazing young designers we have been supporting, making great designs more accessible to everyone.”
“People love browsing Dezeen for products for their homes, but until now they’ve then had to figure out for themselves where to buy them,” said Dezeen founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs. “Now they can click straight through to our curated Christmas shop on Clippings.”
A one-stop destination for design-lovers, Clippings.com is not only a marketplace to buy original and exclusive homewares, but also a unique creative sourcebook, taking its name from the tradition of clipping images out of magazines for inspiration.
The latest RIBA Future Trends Survey says the recession in architectural services “is finally coming to an end”, with the number of projects currently in progress growing for the first time since the financial crisis began.
“All indications strongly suggest that this extremely challenging and lengthy recession in the market for architectural services is finally coming to an end,” said RIBA Director of Practice Adrian Dobson.
“The overall balance of reporting suggests steadily growing confidence, with many practices reporting a notable increase in enquiries and dormant projects springing back into life.”
The survey represents further good news for British architectural practices following the results of last week’s Arch-Vision report, which pointed out that UK architects are enjoying their busiest period since 2008, with almost 60% seeing their order books increasing during Q3 of 2013.
RIBA practices reported an 11% increase in workload between October 2012 and October 2013, the survey says – although workloads are still one third below the peak of early 2008.
Project enquiries are also increasing, with the RIBA’s workload forecast figure at its highest since the survey launched in January 2009, and practices saying they are “increasingly optimistic about their medium term future work flows.”
The percentage of respondents claiming they have been under-employed in the past month remained constant at 20%, suggesting a surplus of practitioners in relation to the demand for architectural services.
The RIBA Future Trends Survey is a monthly report into the industry’s workload and confidence.
Recession drawing to an end? Architect work levels show first annual increase since 2009
RIBA Future Trends Survey results for October 2013
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has published the October results of the Future Trends Survey. The monthly survey illustrates the profession’s confidence and workload, a bellwether for the health of the wider UK construction industry.
The RIBA Future Trends Workload Index sustained a significant increase this month, rising to +35 in October 2013 from +26 in September 2013. This is the highest workload forecast figure since the RIBA Future Trends Survey started in January 2009, suggesting an aggregate upturn in project enquiries this autumn. RIBA Chartered practices are increasingly optimistic about their medium term future work flows.
Welcome news also comes from the latest quarterly returns for the levels of actual work in progress which are now showing an annual increase for the first time since the financial crisis. RIBA practices reported an 11% aggregate increase in workload between October 2012 and October 2013. Architects’ workloads are about one third below the peak of early 2008, so there remains a huge amount of lost territory to make up.
All sizes of practices throughout all the nations and regions in the UK returned positive workload forecast balance figures in October 2013, continuing to indicate that the growing optimism about an upturn in overall workloads is now widespread.
The private housing sector workload balance figure increased to +34 in October 2013, up from +25 in September, indicating that architects continue to feel confident about prospects in this sector. The commercial sector workload balance figure rose to +18 in October 2013, up from +17 in September; the steady improvement in the commercial sector forecast bodes well for future growth in this key sector. The public sector and community sector workload forecasts were both unchanged at +3 in October 2013.
The latest results were welcomed by RIBA Director of Practice Adrian Dobson who has overseen the Survey since its incarnation in 2009. Dobson said: “All indications strongly suggest that this extremely challenging and lengthy recession in the market for architectural services is finally coming to an end. The overall balance of reporting suggests steadily growing confidence, with many practices reporting a notable increase in enquiries and dormant projects springing back into life.”
The RIBA Future Trends Staffing Index stands at +14 in October 2013, a significant increase compared with +7 in September. Practices, particularly large practices (50+ staff), continue to become more confident about their ability to sustain higher staffing levels.
One note of caution is that the percentage of our respondents reporting that they had personally been under-employed in the last month remained at 20%, suggesting that at present there remains a significant degree of over-capacity in the architects’ profession.
Motor brand MINI has launched the latest incarnation of the iconic car at the firm’s production plant in Oxford, UK (+ slideshow).
The new MINI Cooper, Cooper S and Cooper D models have updated body, interior and colour designs, plus more fuel-efficient engines. “The new MINI generation strikes the perfect balance between MINI heritage, future-defining forms and innovations,” said head of MINI design Anders Warming.
The designers have added ten centimetres to the length of the car and a longer wheelbase compared to the previous MINI Cooper. The front grille has been extended horizontally towards the front wheels and both front and rear lights have been modified, with the option to have LED lamps.
Altered parts inside the headlights create a new pattern from the outside. At the back the lights are now larger and shaped like rectangles with rounded corners.
The previous design had a circular analogue speedometer above the central console. This has been replaced with a screen displaying entertainment and navigation systems, whereas driving-related displays are now clustered in front of the driver on the steering column.
An optional feature allows the driver to project data such as the car’s speed and directions onto a small transparent element in their field of view, so the information appears to float over the bonnet ridge.
The car is now available in five new colours including Volcanic Orange, Moonwalk Grey, Blazing Red, Deep Blue and Electric Blue. Interiors can also be personalised with a choice of ten seat cover designs and a variety of trims.
First released in 1959, the MINI was overhauled and updated after the brand was bought by German auto brand BMW in 2001. The company has since launched models such as the Paceman, Clubman and an electric scooter.
We’re almost at the end of our year-long world tour with MINI, during which we’ve visited and reported on design events across the globe. Our last stop is Design Miami at the beginning of December, so stay tuned!
More information from MINI follows:
The new MINI – the evolution of an icon
The brand’s successful history – which spans more than 50 years – enters a new dimension.
With its unmistakeable design and undiluted driving fun, the first example of the classic Mini sparked a revolution in the car market when it entered the fray in 1959. Then, in 2001, the new MINI emerged from the BMW Group stable to lead the premium compact class into the new millennium. And now MINI is poised to set new standards once again when it unveils the latest incarnation of this iconic car on 18 November 2013.
The new MINI is one thing above all else: a typical MINI – in its most concentrated and contemporary form. A car built for individualists, it whisks the legendary forms of the classic Mini from 1959 into the present day and takes to the stage with greater presence and maturity than ever. “The new MINI generation strikes the perfect balance between MINI heritage, future-defining forms and innovations,” says Anders Warming, Head of MINI Design.
At first glance, the new MINI cuts a familiar figure. Its snappy proportions, short overhangs and hallmark “stance on the wheels” reflect the agile driving characteristics of the MINI. Look again more closely, however, and the new MINI reveals its enhanced design qualities. The new generation brings even greater precision and class to the car’s classic iconic features, in particular. Keen to express the characteristic form of the hexagonal radiator grille more clearly, the designers have introduced a smooth, one-piece chrome frame for the first time.
The design of the lights has also been revised. With their new graphics and clearly structured inner workings, the headlights and rear lights accentuate the more grown-up appearance of the new MINI. The trapezoidal rear lights of the previous model are now larger and have greater presence, and they more closely resemble rounded-off rectangles from the outside. As before, they have chrome ring surrounds, and now they extend into the boot lid. Positioned far to the outer edges of the car, the rear lights also underline the prominently sporting stance of the new MINI. The new model is the first car in its segment to be available as an option with LED headlights.
The defining design elements are expressed with greater intensity than ever. Additional creases trace the outlines of the headlights, wheel arches, headlights and rear lights to the side, giving the design a more striking and contemporary edge. A selection of detailed stylistic embellishments reflects the more mature character of the new MINI. For example, an arrow-shaped dynamic line shapes the newly interpreted turn indicator units. Chrome elements on the radiator grille, lights and door handles draw the eye to typical MINI design cues, and the optional Chrome package brings an extra splash of exclusivity to the exterior of the new MINI.
The proportions of the latest-generation car remain unmistakably MINI. Although it has grown by around ten centimetres in its latest guise, the relationship between its dimensions remains unchanged. Short overhangs, plus the lights extending round into the car’s flanks at the front and rear create a short and agile impression despite the car’s longer exterior measurements and help give the MINI its familiar compact overall impression. The designers have added further bite to the car’s crisp, sporty appearance by moving the radiator grille back as far as possible towards the front wheels.
Among the features designed to enhance the car’s dynamic looks is the improved flow of its lines. This design cue is clearly visible in the newly designed flanks, which now exude even greater energy and verve. Plus, as the window graphic tapers towards the rear, it lends the sides of the car a dynamic wedge shape, which draws attention to the forward-surging presence of the new MINI.
The slightly downward-sloping roofline makes the car feel as if it is powering forward before it has even moved. The roofline is more substantial than its predecessors and continues the sweep of the windscreen, bringing the driver into the visual centre of the new MINI. At the same time, the roof appears to be floating over the car, emphasising the hallmark MINI three-way split of body, glasshouse and roof.
Among the drivers behind the new car’s powerful and planted stance on the road are its prominently flared wheel arches. In order to give the latest MINI an even sportier and muscular appearance, all design elements – such as the rear lights – are positioned as far as possible to the outside.
Interior design: innovative new features, authenticity in detail
The new MINI remains true to its principles by using creativity and innovation to offer customers maximum versatility and interior space despite minimised exterior dimensions. But a MINI would not be a MINI if it didn’t constantly re-invent itself. Indeed, for the first time all driving-related displays, such as the speedometer and fuel gauge, are grouped together in a new instrument cluster positioned ahead of the driver on the steering column, directly in the line of vision. There is no Centre Speedo in the classical sense. The circular central instrument remains in place but it no longer contains an analogue speedometer. Instead it has morphed into a graphics-based element displaying various functions, notably the car’s entertainment and navigation systems and other infotainment features. A new interface and an interactive LED display ring create an emotionally invigorating overall experience. The electric window switches and handbrake are now within easier reach. The chrome window toggle switches are now integrated into the armrests, making them comfortable to use. The handbrake is located in a driver-focused position on the left-hand side of the re-designed centre console.
Likewise hot off the press is the optional Head Up Display. This system uses a combiner to project information such as the car’s speed and navigation instructions into the driver’s field of view. The image appears as if floating over the bonnet ridge. This has the advantage that the driver does not have to adjust his focus away from the road and refocus his eyes between areas close to the car and objects further away.
The extremely horizontal emphasis of modern dashboards creates a generous feeling of space; surfaces are tightened and have more precise edges. The dashboard’s upper cover provides a flowing surface over the instruments and provides them with an upper border. The central instrument and circular outer air vents project out from the dashboard in typically MINI three-dimensional style. At the same time, the vents create an elegant transition from the cockpit into the door trim, where their form extends into an ellipse. The vent grilles on the right and left of the central instrument are less “playful” now and feature horizontal and vertical slats.
Atmospheric “Ambient Light” brings an enhanced feeling of space to the interior and accentuates the distinctive door design.
The rear seats have also been completely re-designed for the new model generation. The new car has a clear four-seat configuration, and the individual-seat character of the rear compartment is immediately noticeable. Indeed, the rear seats continue the sporty and grown-up theme of the new MINI in the rear of the car. The lateral support provided by the seats is designed to promote sporty driving, bringing the go-kart feeling into play for rear passengers as well.
The colour and material design: maximising the scope for customisation
All MINI drivers have their own style. That’s why the new MINI also majors on maximising the scope for customisation. A large number of unusual choices inject fresh intrigue into the familiar MINI range of colours and materials and enable customers to configure their MINI to reflect their personality. For example, 12 exterior colours cover a wide variety of bases – from striking via sporty to elegant. The five new colours shades Volcanic Orange, Moonwalk Grey, Blazing Red, Deep Blue and Electric Blue freshen up the familiar MINI colour pallet and add exciting new options.
The MINI also offers scope for further interior customisation with a choice of five Colour Lines. Customers looking to personalise their car to the maximum can choose from 10 seat cover designs and other optional trim surface variants.
The two new colour and material worlds – Off-White and Dark Cottonwood – available as part of the MINI Yours interior style packages offer customers exclusive equipment variants that underline the individual character of the MINI.
News:Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled its design for the first of several new stadiums that will hold football matches during the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Despite efforts to move the international football tournament to the winter, Zaha Hadid Architects is working alongside architecture and engineering firm AECOM to design a 40,000-seat venue that will be suitable for use during Qatar’s hot summer climate.
The stadium will be located in Al Wakrah, the southern-most city hosting the tournament. It is the first of up to nine stadiums that could be constructed in Qatari cities, with five expected to start on site next year.
According to project director Jim Heverin, the shape of the stadium will be based on the curved form of the Dhow – a type of Arabian fishing boat that can often be spotted at the town’s harbour.
This form will give the structure a curving roof intended to shield both players and spectators from the intense desert sunshine, which can cause temperatures to exceed beyond 50 degrees.
The architects also plan to combine mechanical air-conditioning with passive design principles to keep temperatures below 30 degrees.
During the tournament the venue will accommodate 40,000 spectators, but this will be reduced to 20,000 once the competition is over. Left-over seats will then be removed and shipped to developing countries.
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